Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETSSTemplate I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Teacher(s)
Name Lawanna J. Knight

Position Special Education/Biology Teacher

School/District Clarke Central High/Clarke County

E-mail ljkitec@gmail.com

Phone

Grade Level(s) 9th

Content Area Biology

Time line One Month(classes meet four times/week)

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you expect
students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please put a summary of
the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which standards were addressed.

Students will develop a model to explain the role of cellular reproduction/mitosis in maintaining
genetic continuity. Students will also obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze
how genetic information is expressed in cells by constructing an explanation of how the structures
of DNA and RNA lead to the expression of information within the cell via the process of replication.
Students will also support the claim that inheritable genetic variations may result from new genetic
combinations through non-lethal errors occurring during replication (insertions, deletions,
substitutions) and/or heritable mutations caused by environmental factors (radiation, chemicals,
Content Standards and viruses).
Students will demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products
and processes using technology by creating original works as a means of personal expression.
Students will also apply their existing knowledge to generate new ideas and products. Students will
communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple peers through a variety of digital media.
Students will also evaluate and select digital tools based on requirements specific to the task.
Students will also use critical thinking skills to explore the authentic problems associated with cell
reproduction and examine the guiding questions. They will also plan and manage activities to
NETS*S Standards: complete the mutant superhero project.

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Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

Students will ultimately learn about mutations and how mutations occur. Along the way, students will discover why cancer is
considered a mutation. Before getting to mutations, students must develop an understanding of how cells normally divide.
All cells go through a cell cycle that includes DNA replication (making an exact copy) and Mitosis (dividing the cell) which
leads to the production of new cells. When any change happens to DNA to affect the exact copying, it leads to a mutation.
Students will learn that mutations can be neutral, harmful, and even beneficial. Throughout the unit, students will use many
technology based components to complete both digital and non digital assignments and activities. All digital activities and
assignments will be posted in the Google Classroom so students have complete access. After viewing the Mutations Photo
Cube, students will be expected to complete a Mutations Research Assignment. However, the culminating product will be a
Mutant Superhero Project in the form of a digital animation or digital short story with an audio recording.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or want to know
about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate interest about the topic?
Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions)
What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential
questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry. They should not be answered with a simple yes or no and
should have many acceptable answers.

How does your body replace the skin cells it loses each day?
How do nitrogen bases pair?
How do cells copy their DNA?
How do cells normally divide?
How are some mutations beneficial?
How and why can the process of replication go wrong?
I expect students will bring some things to the topic. The majority of students are aware that half of a persons DNA comes
from mom and the other half from dad. They will also have heard of the term mutation but associate mutations as being
bad. That misconception will have to be addressed. Students will also bring some knowledge of cancer.

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess what they
produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or rubrics. Include
these in your presentation as well.

There will be multiple formative assessments throughout the unit to include Quizizz, Quizlet, Socrative, and a Dotstorming
Question. I will also use a homework assessment created in Google Forms as a means of assessment. EDpuzzles and RED
Questions presented in a Google form will also be used as formative assessments. Students will complete a Cell Cycle Google
Drawing to illustrate their learning. They will then work in pairs to complete a Mitosis WebQuest. The WebQuest will also
serve as a means of assessment. A DNA structure and identification worksheet will also be used as a formative assessment.
Students will be given a formative grade on a DNA base pairing/replication worksheet. Near the end of the unit, students
will complete a Mutations Research Assignment for a formative grade. To differentiate for the Mutations Research
Assignment, I will provide one to one assistance. I will also have a list of mutations in which students can choose from. I will
also allow students to work either independently or in pairs. Before the summative project, students will complete a
Socrative quiz as another means of formative assessment. At the end of the unit, the students will be assessed over their
learning by creating a Mutant Superhero Project which serves as a summative grade. Differentiation for the Mutant
Superhero Project is evident in the differing options. This gives students a choice. Higher level students can come up with
their own superhero, but a choice list has been provided for others. Also, instead of doing six frames for the comic strip,
students with diverse needs will be given an option to complete three frames instead of six. Students will be graded using
the Mutant Superhero Project Rubric.

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Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resourcesonline
student tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etchelp
elucidate or explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology
skills should students have to complete this project?)

Technology supports student learning greatly as it allows all students to participate in the learning. Technology allows for
assignments and activities to be differentiated to meet students at their academic level. Technology tools are embedded and
immersed throughout the unit. A variety of digital tools such as Google forms, Google slides, Google documents, Quizizz,
Quizlet, Socrative, Voki, and Padlet are used to explain the content and encourage students to participate. Students will
learn how to use technology and also use technology to learn and grow. To complete the assignments, students need to
have basic typing skills and practice effective and safe use of digital tools.

Instructional Plan
provide a foundation for this lesson? How can you
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning
find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)
Students prior knowledge of DNA, cancer, and mutations will help form a foundation for this unit to be completed. Students
generally are very interested in cancer and mutations and ask very good questions. Some sort of pre assessment before
beginning the unit will allow me to determine if students have a basic background and are prepared to learn the information
presented in the unit. I predict students will have issues with the technical aspects of cancer and mutations. Once I break
down the how and why of cancer and mutations, some students struggle to comprehend the conceptual nature of it.
Another potential difficulty is the concept of replication. While most students understand that the word replicate means
to make a copy, they have a hard time applying that knowledge to the abstract concepts of DNA replication and mutations.
Students will tackle this unit after being introduced to the basic concepts in 7 th grade.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies you will use to manage your students and the use of digital
tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals, classroom, lab, etc.)
What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this lesson? Describe what
technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or trouble-shoot them? Please
note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as throughout the process. Be sure to indicate
how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson
was completed.

To monitor and manage students and their use of digital tools and resources, I will lay out rules at the beginning of class
about acceptable and unacceptable uses of technology. I will also use proximity control to monitor students. Students will
work in the classroom for all unit assignments and activities. Every student at my school has a personal learning device that
will be used to complete activities. Some assignments will require students to work independently, and paired or group work
will be allowed for other assignments. Occasionally, technical issues do arise. If technical difficulties occur, I will have hard
copies of assignments or alternate assignments. I am capable of troubleshooting basic problems, so I will do that first.
Sometimes, students just have to be told to close out of all programs and restart to get their laptops working again. If major
issues occur, I will contact the technology support team by submitting a help desk ticket. I do not really foresee any technical
issues.

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Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will use with this
lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the students' roles in the
lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or creativity levels of Blooms Taxonomy?
How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic, relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will
your students complete? How will they build knowledge and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to
communicate and collaborate with each other and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Students will begin the Unit by engaging in a K.I.M. (key word, information, memory cue) strategy with certain
vocabulary words. Throughout the unit, I will continually assess students by having them practice with the K.I.M. vocabulary
Quizlet. I will use the results of the Quizlet to remediate and make changes to classroom instruction. For example, if
students are struggling with the concept of the cell cycle I will spend more time in class going over this concept.
To get students thinking about where they need to be and what they need to learn, I will conduct a quick Question
session to assess student's prior knowledge of cancer by having them complete a Dotstorming board. Then, I will not show
them a YouTube video on Cancer Clusters. Once students have watched the video, I will use Socrative to have students
complete an exit ticket over what they learned from the video.
The next day, class will start with the presentation of two ideas such as cancer is uncontrolled cell division and the
anchoring phenomenon that humans lose 30, 000 to 40,000 skin cells a day but are able to maintain a healthy layer of skin.
Students will have about two minutes to turn to a peer and discuss the ideas. This will lead the students directly into the
driving questions of "how does your body replace the skin cells it loses each day?" and "how do cells normally divide?"
To further aid in understanding cell division and to get practice with literacy, I will provide both a hard copy and digital
copy of an article on cell division. The digital copy is a great resource as it contains hyperlinks to online practice, videos, and
games. To check student's progress on cell division, they will be given a homework article assessment created as a Google
form to serve as a formative assessment. The results of the formative assessment will be used to guide the subsequent
lessons on mitosis (cell division) and address misconceptions.
Students will then watch a video of a cell undergoing mitosis (cell division). Videos are important because they give
visuals. A lot of students are visual learners and do better when they can associate pictures or images to concepts. Videos
are also great because they can be stopped and replayed at a student's convenience.
Next, students will complete an Amoeba Sisters EDpuzzle on Mitosis. EDpuzzles are great because they incorporate a
video with questions and also serve as checks for understanding. I will use the results of the EDpuzzle to create remediation,
on level, and enrichment groups in the classroom. The results will show me which students need more help and more one to
one assistance, which ones can do the work independently, and which students are ready to move on.
Throughout the entire unit, I will pose a R.E.D. (Respond, Evaluate/Explain, and Demonstrate) Question in a Google
form as an activator and informal assessment at the beginning of each class. The results are instantaneous and can be
displayed to the class in chart form. I will review the results with the class and make sure we address each answer choice
and why each choice is wrong or right.
After giving students time to engage in and explore the material on their own to develop and enhance their
independent critical thinking and problem solving skills, I will conduct some direct instruction and present a Google slide on
the cell cycle and mitosis. During the presentation, students will complete notes. Differentiation will occur here as a few
students will write their own notes, and the rest of the students will complete cloze notes or partially filled cloze notes.
Differentiation of the notes greatly benefits students with diverse needs both struggling students and gifted students.
Students will be given a mitosis reading text that will be leveled by reading ability. This differentiated text will allow
struggling or weak readers to access the curriculum and participate in class. Next, students will be assessed informally by
completing a mitosis review Quizizz. Again, the data from the Quizizz will guide subsequent teaching and remediation
sessions. After the Quizizz review, students will complete a mitotic phases worksheet for a formative grade.
By this time, we should almost be done with the cell cycle and mitosis. So as further assessment and practice, students
will complete a cell cycle Google drawing starter. In pairs, they will also complete an interactive Mitosis WebQuest that has
links from Cells Alive.
Before moving on to DNA and mutations, students will be given one last activity, an Amoeba Sisters EDpuzzle that
connects the cell cycle to cancer. This activity will ensure and assess understanding of the cell cycle and cancer.
Since my school uses the 5-E instructional model to teach (Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, and Extend), I will engage
students and help them learn about DNA and how DNA nitrogen bases pair by having them complete a base pairing game.
After the game, students will explore a DNA replication activity.

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 To further explain DNA replication, I will present a DNA and Replication Google Slide while students complete
differentiated cloze notes. Students will then complete two formative assessments. First, they will watch and complete an
Amoeba Sisters DNA structure EDpuzzle and then complete a DNA structure and identification worksheet. Both of these will
serve as formative assessments. I will review the results and make plans accordingly.
To end the part of the unit on DNA, students will complete a DNA base pairing/replication worksheet and be given a
formative grade. Data from the worksheet will be used to plan for remediation and the study guide.
Once students understand DNA, base pairing, and replication, I will move them to mutations. To engage them, I will
present a Mutations Photo Cube created with Google Slides. This should interest them and get them talking and thinking
about what mutations are. Next, I will present the mutations Google Slide presentation, and students will take either hand
written or cloze notes. Once students have an understanding of mutations, they will complete a Mutations Research
Assignment for a formative grade. Students will then watch clips from a video entitled Mutations: The Science of Survival to
increase their knowledge of real life mutations and to explain how some mutations are beneficial. Students will then do a
Socrative quiz of about five questions. After the Socrative quiz, I will review, discuss, and explain the results with the class.
Finally, as a culminating project to mutations students will create a Mutant Superhero Project which serves as a summative
grade and post the link to the project on Padlet. Students will be graded on the project using the Mutant Superhero Project
Rubric. Students will be provided with the rubric at the onset of the assignment. At the end of the unit, students will
complete a self reflection/assessment.

to accommodate various learning styles and

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide
extensions and opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

Technology will be used to differentiate the product, content, and process for various learning styles and abilities. Some
visuals, videos, and drawings will aid some learners. I will differentiate by allowing group work and collaboration for some
assignments. Scaffolding and chunking of material will benefit students with lower abilities. The use of technology easily
allows for collaboration. I can use digital tools to assignment additional practice, videos, and other assignments to
remediate, reteach, and/or extend student knowledge. I do have some students who struggle to read fluently. These
students will be allowed to use some Text to Speech and Speech to Text software and applications. Students who easily
understand the material will be allowed to extend their learning. I will provide case studies and give them the opportunity to
do virtual labs related to DNA, replication, and mutations. I will also differentiate my teaching by using flexible grouping and
stations in my classroom. Another way to differentiate and provide assistance is to provide some students with a peer tutor
who is able to explain material and concepts.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be asked to
provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following questions?)
Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?
How would you teach this lesson differently?

There has been a really big push for student reflection this year. For almost every assignment, students are given a self
reflection or assessment Google form. Students will be given a five question reflection survey created in either Google forms
or Google documents. They will have to reflect on the unit, their study habits, their efforts, what they learned, what they
still have trouble with, and ways to improve their performance in the future. I too usually do a reflection. I plan on doing the
reflection to figure out ways to improve my instruction, ways to increase differentiation, and ways to increase meaning and
make assignments more culturally responsive.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please provide a
quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.

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I really liked teaching this unit. I love the 5E instructional approach. I think it is very important that students are allowed to
engage and explore to discover their own meaning of concepts and materials before teachers chime in. To me, learning on
ones own makes something more memorable and authentic. My biggest piece of advice is just to be open minded and
flexible when planning and implementing lessons and ideas. Sometimes great ideas will fail while horrible ideas will turn
into great successes. When dealing with difficult concepts, I think it is important to present material in numerous ways. Just
as true, I believe students should be allowed to show their understanding in multiple formats. Collaboration can be a really
effective strategy to increase learning once students learn how to collaborate properly. This unit involved the use of
technology and many digital tools. I believe students are more engaged and participatory when technology is embedded in
assignments. I have noticed that students who would not participate at all are now participating because of technology.
They are not afraid to answer a question on Socrative or try to answer questions in a Kahoot game. Technology has opened
up new avenues and has a critical role in the education of struggling students and students with diverse needs such as low
SES and female students. Differentiation has become easier due to technology. For example, when using Google Classroom I
am able to assign specific assignments to certain students while simultaneously assigning different work to other students.
Overall, the implementation of the assignments and activities was smooth. And I do not think that would have been possible
without technology.

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